robots_and_aliens – Made by Mikal

Asimov’s Aurora

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 22, 2010
Post category:Book

This is the third and final book in the iBook Asimov Robots spinoff series. The first two were Asimov's Mirage and Asimov's Chimera. Like the second one, this is better than the first and has a nice flow to the plot line. The story also is easier to believe than those used in previous spinoffs such as the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. Weirdly, this is the first of the books in those spinoff series to really use sex as a plot element. The other books haven't been celibate, but they also haven't been as in your face as this one. That was probably the weakest part of the book, because those parts felt clumsy and extraneous.

Asimov’s Chimera

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 11, 2010
Post category:Book

This is the second book in the iBooks spinoff series based on Asimov's robot mysteries and the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. Overall it fits into the Foundation Series acceptably. This book is a mystery much like Mark's first Mirage. I think overall this book is better written than Mirage, and is certainly better plotted than the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. The book is believable and entertaining, without having to suspend too much disbelief. I enjoyed it, although the book isn't important to the development of Foundation Series overall.

Asimov’s Mirage

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 8, 2010
Post category:Book

If I was to name one flaw with the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series, it would have to be that they're not very good. They're lackluster, have difficult to believe plots, very simple structure, and are overall poorly thought through. Its a similar sensation to that I feel when I read the tie-in books written after Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero series. I feel a little sorry for the writers in later books in these series, because I suspect their hands were tied by the poor decisions of previous authors (similarly to the mess that Bear's Foundation and Chaos had to dig that series out after Benford's tragically terrible Foundation's Fear). Robot City and Robots and Aliens were disappointments because I read Roger MacBride Allen's Caliban series before them, and Caliban is ok. Not awesome, but ok. I say all of this as an introduction to Mirage. I guess what I'm saying is that I've been wading through Asimov robot tie-ins from other authors for a while now, and some of them are not very good. That's why finding Mirage was such a delight. Its well written, has a similar style as Asimov's own writing, reuses characters and…

The Robot City, Robots and Aliens Series

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 27, 2009
Post category:Book

This series follows on from the Robot City series set in Asimov's Foundation Universe but written by other authors. Overall that first series was weak, and I think the same is true for this series as well. There are a few here that are better than the others, but I'd only recommend this series for those who are obsessed with Foundation universe completeness. 1989: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling by Stephen Leigh 1989: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade by Cordell Scotten 1990: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder by Robert Thurston 1990: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance by Jerry Oltion 1990: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Maverick by Bruce Bethke 1990: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Humanity by Jerry Oltion

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Humanity

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 27, 2009
Post category:Book

This book is actually the best one of the two robot city series (Robot City and Robots and Aliens). Unfortunately I had to wade through 12 not very good books to find it, and its still not stellar. I'd recommend giving both these series a miss unless you're obsessed with completeness in Asimov's Robot universe.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Maverick

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 13, 2009
Post category:Book

Bruce did an ok job with this book, although I think overall he was suffering from not having a lot to work with. The book is quite readable, which isn't true of some of the others, and has some nice details such as an attempt to sound technically feasible by the liberal sprinkling of unix jargon through the book. I'm not sure if the unix jargon is successful however. Its interesting that this is also the first of these books to not have an introduction from Asimov himself.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance

Post author:mikal
Post published:June 12, 2009
Post category:Book

Given how disappointed I have been in other books in this series, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The style is very readable, and the content is interesting. The plot seems more nuanced than some of the others in the series, and the characters aren't as one dimensional either. This isn't the best book I have ever read, but it was surprisingly solid, especially given some of the poor ground work it had to deal with.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 1, 2009
Post category:Book

This is the third book in the second Asimov tie in series. Its one of the better ones of the nine I have read so far, and I actually enjoyed reading it (some of the others felt like a bit of a chore). This one covers a return to Robot City, where an outside force has disrupted the operation of the city for its own nefarious purposes.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 8, 2009
Post category:Book

This book starts poorly, and isn't as interesting as the previous one in the series (Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling). The introduction uses an alien species with spending any time to describe them, and the process of trying to infer what they are and how they operate distracts from the overall plot. Its a little bit like a William Gibson book, but a more clumsy attempt at it which makes the first couple of chapters hard to comprehend. Worse than that, this book spends a lot of time dwelling on physics details (the author is a physicist), and Ariel seems obsessed with a desire for recognition and power that doesn't exist in the previous books. A lot of the book is also about her love affair for Derec and a robot, which is out of place with the rest of the series as well. In the other books the romantic relationship between Derec and Ariel is a minor plot element, not something which has many pages devoted to it, and I think that fitted better with the overall plot.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 4, 2009
Post category:Book

Despite the rather unwieldy name, and being trapped as the seventh book in a share cropping series using Asimov's name, this is actually quite a good book. The plot explores something Asimov didn't do much of (what happens when Asimovian robots meet aliens and define them as human), while not being self righteous about it. The book is also more technically competent that some of the earlier ones in the series -- it doesn't feel like it was written for seven year olds. I think this one is the best in the series so far.